Intel 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs Allegedly Feature Intel 4’Compute Tile, TSMC 3nm GPU Tile & TSMC N5/N4 SOC-LP Tile

Further details regarding Intel's 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs which will power next-gen PCs in 2023 have been revealed by Commercial Times. The source quotes their own sources which has outlined some interesting specifications and process nodes to be utilized by the next-generation Intel chip.

Just a few days ago, we got our first look at the test chip for the Intel Meteor Lake CPU which comes with a quad-tile design. Everyone jumped on board to provide their own analysis & it seems almost everyone has come to the conclusion that the middle tile is for the GPU, the compute tile for CPU is the one on top and the SOC tile is the smallest one at the bottom.

We also get a first look at the Meteor Lake test chip wafer which measures 300mm diagonally. The wafer comprises test chips which are dummy dies, once again to make sure that the interconnects on the chip work as intended. Intel already achieved Power-On for its Meteor Lake Compute CPU tile so we can expect final chips to be produced by the 2nd of 2022 for launch in 2023.

We already got some details from Intel such as the fact that Intel's Meteor Lake line of desktop and mobility CPUs are expected to be based on a new line of Cove core architecture. This is rumored to be known as the Redwood Cove and will be based on a 7nm EUV  (Intel 4) process node. It is stated that the Redwood Cove is designed from the ground up to be an agnostic node which means that it can be fabricated at different fabs.

There are references mentioned that point out to TSMC to be a backup or even a partial supplier for the Redwood Cove-based chips. This might tell us why Intel is stating multiple manufacturing processes for the CPU family. The Redwood Cove architecture will power the P-Cores & Crestmont will power the E-Cores.

The Meteor Lake CPUs is going to be the first CPU generation from Intel to say farewell to the ring bus interconnect architecture. There are also rumors that Meteor Lake could be a fully 3D-Stacked design and could utilize an I/O die sourced from an external fab (TSMC sighted again). The source points out that the SOC-LP Tile will be based on either TSMC's N5 or N4 process node while the GPU tile will be based on TSMC's 3nm node.

It is highlighted that Intel will be officially utilizing its Foveros Packaging Technology on the CPU to inter-connect the various dies on the chip (XPU). This also aligns with Intel referring to each tile on 14th Gen chips individually (Compute Tile = CPU Cores).

The Meteor Lake Desktop CPU family is expected to retain support on the LGA 1700 socket which is the same socket used by Alder Lake & Raptor Lake processors. We can expect DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5.0 support. The platform will support both DDR5 & DDR4 memory with the mainstream and budget tier options going for DDR4 memory DIMMs while the premium & high-end offerings going for DDR5 DIMMs. The site also lists down both Meteor Lake P and Meteor Lake M CPUs that will be aimed at mobility platforms.